Islamic Customs and EtiquetteQuestion asked by .Answered by Jhangeer Hanif

Question:

What does Islam
have to say regarding co-education in schools? What are your viewpoints
regarding this? Please elaborate on the pros and cons of such a system. Two
popular arguments in favor of co-education are:

1. Coeducation builds
confidence in a person and makes him/her a more complete person to live in a
real world. In other words, studying in the same-sex education system makes
a person lack in self confidence.

2. Another argument given by
the proponents of co-education is that a person’s moral and Islamic values
are built at home, thus neither co-education nor same-sex education plays
any part in damaging or improving these values.

My personal argument is
against co-education and I say that in co-education environments students
have more opportunity and temptations to go astray. They cannot maintain the
right etiquette of intermingling as prescribed by the Islamic Sharī‘ah, at
all times during school hours. Also, students in a co-education school might
become more consumed by how they appear or present themselves to the
opposite sex as compared to their studies. Please comment.

Answer:

I think you yourself
have well described the pros and cons of subjecting students to
co-education. I however would like to mention that co-education is not an
issue that has specifically been addressed by the Sharī‘ah. In other words,
what we should keep in mind is the fact that co-education has not
categorically been proscribed by the Almighty. However, there is no question
about the view that it should be avoided, keeping in view the essence of the
Islamic teachings regarding gender interaction and also the dictates of our
intuition.

As far as the arguments in
favor of co-education are concerned, I believe that the strongest argument
put forth by its proponents, who also have little knowledge about Islam, is
the exhortation that Islam has extended to Muslims to allow their women into
mosques and let them offer prayer in congregation if they want to. Why on
earth should it not be allowed in schools and colleges then? To my mind,
this seems to be the strongest of all arguments offered by them since,
through this, they manipulate a religious directive in their own favor.

A little deliberation here
will reveal that there is a world of difference between the environment of a
mosque and that of a school. In mosques, we indeed have an overwhelming
feeling of the presence of the Almighty. Moreover, our intentions to visit
and our concept regarding the sanctity of the mosque make a real difference
in this respect. In spite of all this, Islam further enjoins certain
etiquette to be observed by both Muslim men and women while they are in
their Lord’s House. They are never allowed to intermingle freely or sit side
by side. Ladies are directed to cover themselves properly and men have been
directed to lower their gaze of which they become profoundly aware when they
enter the sacred house. Is the situation with schools the same? Of course
not. It is for this reason that co-education in schools and colleges must
not be extrapolated on the basis of the permission given to women to attend
mosques.

As you have pointed out, the
tremendous loss caused by co-education is moral degeneration. The students
are completely exposed to the opposite sex. Curiosity plays its role well in
this regard. The wrong ideals set by the media and the awful bombardment of
immoral images and characters fill the space left out by the germs of
curiosity implanted by Satan. This reality coupled with the fact that they
are mostly devoid of the supervision of any true and sincere mentor at
school in that their teachers themselves do not present their students with
a role model of morality, cause the innocent students to fall prey to the
deadly predator of sexual impurity.

Thus, the ideal situation that
springs to mind when one takes into consideration the spirit of Islamic
teachings and dictates of common sense is that provision of separate class
rooms for male and female students is imperative. Therefore, it is incumbent
upon the government to make necessary arrangements in order to realize this
end. However, in my opinion, if in a developing country like Pakistan, the
government is unable to provide separate classes for both sexes, they must
take necessary steps to ensure that morality still plays an important role
while deciding the curricular and extra-curricular activities of the
institute in question. The underlying reason for this allowance is the stark
reality that it is better to have some female doctors educated in an
environment of co-education than to have our mothers and sisters be
compelled to expose their private parts to male doctors in the time of
ailment. Another step that the government must take in this regard is that
they should very carefully choose the faculty of their institutes. All the
teachers must be an embodiment of the values of decency and goodness. If
these measures are taken, I am hopeful that the possibility of going astray
will greatly decrease; though those at the helm of the state affairs will
still be required to sincerely strive to provide separate campuses to their
scholars, as soon as their funds allow them to.